PCB pin placement suggestions

mseflek commented 3 years ago

Couple of suggestions for V6 (primarily from my experience building this board, but also stolen from this project: https://www.reddit.com/r/olkb/comments/hmxitl/bluetooth_kinesis_advantage_bluemicro_project/):

For the thumb clusters, include a row of 10 holes for header pins so that for those with the original Advantage or even earlier versions, they only have to solder headers on either board and connect them with Dupont cables (or a directly soldered ribbon) instead of trying to work with the staggered holes for the Advantage 2 ribbon connectors. If you look at the above project you'll see what I mean.
Reposition the key well ribbon connectors down a bit, that way the classic versions of the keyboard where the flexible keywell PCB connects directly to the controller will also be compatible. See here for an example of how the old versions connect. Doing this shouldn't affect compatibility with the newer ribbon connectors as it's just a small deviation from their current position.

ergodone commented 3 years ago

FYI - my KinesisBLE fork has those changes. The one issue is the alignment slots are slightly too far apart. The V5 board does not have the alignment slots. https://github.com/ergodone/KinesisBLE

Another change I'd like to see is a connector for an external reset button.

mikewuu commented 3 years ago

:/ have already made, and am waiting for the order for V6. Will push once it's been tested. Feel free to submit a P/R with the thumb clusters.

tamsky commented 3 years ago

@ergodone (asking here because your fork doesn't have /issues/ enabled) (apologies to others)

The one issue is the alignment slots are slightly too far apart.

It looks like the alignment slot in your ver 5.2 layout may have corrected this? https://github.com/ergodone/KinesisBLE/commit/5d2ac59ab233ebd65abde50cdd5608c2bc073a19 Have you tested to see if these slots line up better?

Also, the J2 and J7 connectors appear to have moved slightly toward the centerline. Are they now better positioned to fit older KB133 classic versions?

Last, and perhaps most importantly, examining the ver 5.2 layout, it looks like several parts/components got moved to new locations but the corresponding traces did not get rerouted. This includes the entire nRF controller, power button, J2, J7, R4, R5, and EN. Thoughts/comments? Is 5.2 a work in progress?

ergodone commented 3 years ago

@tamsky Oops, looks like I didn't push the routed PCB. I'll see if I can find it on my old laptop. I was using auto routing in Kicad so the routing was not ideal but it was functional.

The PCB alignment slot is good on the two keyboards I tried, a Kinesis Professional KB134PC and Advatage KB500USB. The Advantage keyboard PCB does not use a cable to connect to the controller PCB but instead plugs directly into the controller PCB. The J2 and J7 connectors were repositioned to accommodate this.

I have a few extra V2 PCBs if you are interested.

ergodone commented 3 years ago

@tamsky The other reasons for the mechanical changes were to get the PCB size no larger than 100mm on a side, to reduce production cost, and move the feather usb connector slightly further from the other connectors.

tamsky commented 3 years ago

That all makes sense now. I'm working with both style keyboards as well, the old style KB133 and newer KB600 (Advantage 2). Thanks for sharing all your work so far.

I have a few extra V2 PCBs if you are interested.

V2 or V5.2 =) ? I'd be happy to buy a finished V5.2 board.

ergodone commented 3 years ago

It's my latest version with the updates above. Just the PCB - I had to order 10 so I have a few extras.

tamsky commented 3 years ago

Sorry for any confusion around using the word "finished".

Yes! I'd be happy to buy 1 or 2 of your latest bare PCBs.

ergodone commented 3 years ago

@tamsky email me at 20211008@corniceresearch.com

sashme commented 3 years ago

It's my latest version with the updates above. Just the PCB - I had to order 10 so I have a few extras.

I'd like to buy one if you still have spares. I've dropped you an email today.

tamsky commented 3 years ago

Hi again JP @ergodone

I finished learning enough kicad to finish routing your nearly-finished v5.2 layout.

Before I send it out to get fabbed, I wanted to make sure I could build the firmware... that's when I realized I couldn't identify which of your branches is the one that you're using...

Perhaps it's one of your branches in https://github.com/ergodone/zmk/branches/stale ?

ergodone commented 3 years ago

I just used the auto route in kicad when I did it. I do have the files I submitted to jlcpcb when I had the board made that I could send you. JLCPCB is cheap but they take a while to deliver (from china). https://github.com/ergodone/zmk/tree/combined

mikewuu / KinesisBLE

PCB pin placement suggestions #11